Asialaw Profiles
The Guide to the legal markets of the Asia-Pacific

Deacons’ Hong Kong capital markets practice focuses on representing local Hong Kong and Chinese companies on their Hong Kong listings. Last year, partner Ronny Chow represented BNP Paribas and other underwriters on the listing of Huiyin Household Appliances on the HKEx.

Deacons is known for its strong relationships with Hong Kong companies and individuals. Partner Ronny Chow heads the M&A practice, which often works for local companies or advises multinational organisations with their Hong Kong inbound acquisitions.

This past year, a Deacons team represented Nasdaq-listed printed circuit board manufacturer TTM on its HK$4.04 billion (US$513 million) acquisition of the printed circuit board business of Hong Kong listed Meadville.

Deacons’ construction and arbitration practice is led by Geoffrey Shaw, while the property department is led by Lilian Chiang. On the construction side, Deacons has a robust practice where it often advises leading contractors and developers on their projects. The firm has a traditional focus in Hong Kong, Macau and China. While the firm continues to have a comparative advantage in these jurisdictions, it is now increasingly working across Asia and even in the Middle East.

When it comes to real estate work, Deacons often represents major landlords and developers. Recently, the firm represented a main contractor in a HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) arbitration against an employer in connection with a major renovation project.

Partner Joseph Kwan heads the dispute resolution practice at Deacons, which is well known for its ability to represent clients in Hong Kong courts and dispute proceedings at all levels.

Daisy Tong recently led a team that defended several members of a major bank in Hong Kong’s first ever criminal prosecution involving offences of fraudulently or recklessly inducing others to invest money in structured products with Lehman Brothers. This past year, Joseph Kwan also represented the former managing director of a major investment bank in a criminal insider trading case.

Deacons fields a leading intellectual property practice in Hong Kong, which boasts 90 full time staff members including seven specialist partners, 30 associates and five qualified patent agents. The well regarded practice routinely advises local and international clients on the full range of IP matters. Partner Christopher Britton leads Deacons’ IP practice.

This past year, the IP team advised Internet Content Provider on its transfer of operations from China to Hong Kong. The firm provided advice on data privacy issues that arose over the use of ‘Street View’ in Hong Kong, including advising and lobbying the Hong Kong Government on proposed changes to Hong Kong Copyright Law in relation to ISP liability.

The employment law practice at Deacons is well known in Hong Kong for representing leading clients on a range of labour and employment related issues. Cynthia Chung leads the human resources and pensions department at Deacons, and receives strong praise from peers in Hong Kong. “Cynthia is excellent,” says one rival partner. “She is particularly strong on benefits work, which is a good compliment to the employment and dispute resolution skills of the firm’s other lawyers.” Deacons’ clients also strongly benefit from the firm’s contentious capabilities in Hong Kong.

This past year, Chung and dispute resolution partner Paul Kwan advised a German retail chain in carrying out a substantial office closure, which involved 120 redundancies in two days. The labour team also represented several airlines on cost reduction exercises that included intense negotiations with powerful employment unions.

The Hong Kong and PRC tax group within Deacons’ commercial department is led by James Bertram, who has over 39 years of experience in tax and trusts work and is well known in Hong Kong. Bertram and the tax team advise many high profile Hong Kong families on their trusts, estate succession plans and business succession plans, as well as on a broad array of matters that support Deacons other practices. Partner Sally Ip is also a leading lawyer in the tax group, and her experience handling disputes and contentious tax issues is a benefit to clients.

This past year, Deacons advised the French parent company of a Hong Kong subsidiary on a dispute with the IRD in relation to achieving a successful settlement for the taxation of royalties.